The
Little Town of Ashton
Lost in the
immense sweep of the Manitoba prairie, forgotten by thousands
in the faraway city of Winnipeg, the people of Ashton live a simpler
life. Here Jesus appears and walks the dusty town roads, aliens
hover over the water tower, a simple name enacts a life-long curse
and nine churches struggle to save the townspeople's reluctant
souls.
Defined by
a main street with a post office and a grocer, a rink and the
police station where Eddy Prosser tortures Aboriginal kids, Ashton
is bounded by the dump to the south, where the Frisians live,
and the reserve to the west, where no one goes. To the north,
farmer Lohmer owns a spread so vast that the town registry has
lost count of his holdings, and from the east come the storms.